THE IMPACT OF COMMERCIAL BANKS IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT (A CASE STUDY OF UNION BANK OF NIGERIA PLC)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

In this present world, all nation want its rural urban areas to be developed, with this perspective policies are being formulated to ensure its achievement of that country.  For instance, in Nigeria a great number of people live in the rural areas and so the  federal, sate and local government are very much concerned in the issue of developing these rural areas.

Development  as it effects the rural people differs in many respects from those of the urban poor and poverty alleviation programm targeted at the rural poor must take into account those difference if the failure is to be substantially reduced.

Poverty and some economic deprivations characterize rural life. The people are peasant farmers who produce a high percentage of the nations crops and yet there is an significant  development of these rural areas. Rural areas are characterized by bad roads, inadequate water supply, epileptic electricity supply, unequipped hospital among other things.

However, rural development has been given various interpretations by areas that belittled the colonial government. The colonial master jut made sure that there was easy exploration of the economy that is movement  of natural resource from rural areas to cities and parts of Britain. With that they neglected the conditions of the rural areas. Since then effort have been made to correcct the situation.

The development of rural areas was interpreted to mean the development  of agriculture. The belied. Was that since the main occupation of the rural people was in agriculture, to develop the rural areas means improving agricultural production. Seeing the importance of banking government in 1977, introduced the rural banking scheme to cultivate banking habit among rural dweller. The scheme was to mobilize savings from rural areas for the purpose of channeling same to profitable ventures and  are credits by ways   of equity and loan for small scale industries and to reduce the movement of young men and women from rural areas to urban areas.

After that, national development strategy with emphasis on the alleviation of rural problems and the enhancement of the quality of rural life. Thus the establishment of directorate of foods, road and rural infrastructures (DFRRI) in 1986.

Apart from facilities, banking services should be inculcated because some of the previous development banking  policies failed to  yield tangible result owning to many factors of which finance was the major one. The availability of finance resource in the right quantum  and at the right time determines to a large extent the development or failure of the area.  The commercial banks are in the position to do that.

1.2            STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

In an effort to check the problem associated the rural development, the federal government through the central bank of Nigeria (CBN) made it mandatory   for commercial bank to open and operate branches office in rural areas.

Commercial banks  are privately  owned banks. The owner purposely establish them for  profit  making. Those commercial banks contributed  to the development of rural areas especially union bank of Nigeria Plc. The amount of finance the banks give to rural areas are small and  so their contribution towards the development of rural areas in minimal.

There are many reason that accounted for this the nature of commercial banks business. They are reluctant to lend to the rural dwellers who in most cases  do